(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a machine for making disk jackets, and more particularly to an automated machine for making standardized disk jackets of consistent quality from non-woven cloth and polypropylene materials includes a machine table, and a raw material mount, a feed roller unit, a first cutter unit, an ultrasonic closure unit, a second cutter unit, a scrap drawing unit, and a conveyor unit disposed in sequence on the machine table. Non-woven cloth and polypropylene material rolls are mounted on the raw material mount. They are drawn, overlapped, cut, sealed using ultrasonic waves, cut into shape, and output as disk jackets for receiving compact disks.
(b) Description of the Prior Art:
Since compact disks having a diameter of 12 cm have come into existence, software products and video audio optical products, such as CD-ROM, VCD, DVD, etc., of various applications have been developed. In general, these disks are contained in flat disk cases that are made of a rigid plastic material. However, the cost of manufacturing these disk cases is rather high, and their size is much greater than the compact disk itself Therefore, there are problems of storage and organization. There are available on the market different kinds of disk racks or cabinets for storing compact disks along with their cases. However, they are generally space-occupying and often cannot meet the user's storage and organization requirements.
Therefore, some manufacturers of video and audio disks and software have developed an album type disk storage device of paper or thin plastic materials, in which sheets of plastic or non-woven cloth are overlapped and formed into pockets using melting or high frequencies for receiving the disks and providing the surfaces of the disks with some form of protection.
The above-mentioned plastic sheets are generally formed from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) that are pressed into pocket shapes at high temperature or using high frequencies. Although there are not obvious drawbacks with such pocket type disk storing devices in use, the PVC material will generate toxic gases during the manufacturing process, and use thereof is hence prohibited in many countries.
Furthermore, as the sheets of PVC and non-woven material are stacked in multiple layers for cutting purposes. The resultant pockets vary in sizes, with the topmost layer having the largest size, and the bottommost layer having the required size. This is because the topmost layer is the softest with respect to the rest of the layers due to the stacks of sheets below, during cutting, the part of the topmost layer subjected to the cutter will be pressed downwardly, so that its size is the greatest. The relative sizes of the other layers decrease gradually with the bottommost layer having the correct size.
In view of the trend to replace rigid plastic disk cases with soft pockets or jackets for storing disks, and in view of the environmental problem created by use of PVC material in the manufacturing process, as well as the variance in disk pocket sizes, it is desirable to have a machine that can mass-produce disk jackets of standardized specifications in an environmental-friendly manner.